Author's Notes

Sorry about the little glitch on the last chapter. I don't know what happened to cause it but thanks to those who reached out to me and pointed it out.

Also, I received a comment on how given the MC's backstory the power levels were messed up, and I just wanted to clarify a few things for anyone else who was wondering. I'd like to think that everything prior to his arrival on Korriban was someone else whose life was essentially dedicated to learning about the more and received training to do so. Everything after Korriban was someone who had none of those things and is relying on memories on someone who did and knowledge of how things are supposed to play out. Said memories were treated like learning a skill from an online course. You could watch the videos a hundred times but it's only until you do them yourself or take a test that you get to see just how much you've learned. It wasn't until last chapter that the two lives fully merged into one.

Power wise, our protagonist is along the lines of Anakin Skywalker at the beginning of Attack of the Clones. Extremely powerful and moderately skilled but there are still quite a few people who could beat him. There are going to be opportunities for powerups on Korriban and Dromund Kaas to get where the MC needs to be so he can beat Jedi knights and masters with years if not decades more experience.

If there are any more discrepancies or plot holes that appear in later chapters, feel free to point them out. I'll either elaborate on them in an author's note or course correct if needed.

Anyways, sorry about the rant. Here's chapter four of Prince of Darkness.

Chapter 4: The Tomb of Ajunta Pall

During the long walk to the tomb of Ajunta Pall, I couldn't help but use the time to think.

Overseer Tremel had sent me into the tombs without any weapons and no supplies at my disposal. While I did have the force, I was left without a blade and could theoretically be overwhelmed through sheer numbers. At this point, I'd take the smallest pistol the galaxy had to offer in a heartbeat if it meant having another weapon at my disposal.

The tomb was the closest one from the academy and just about a mile away from the academy. There were speeders yes, but they only took passengers towards certain locations out in the wilds or in the nearby city of Dreshdae which was still miles away from where I needed to be. Even though the best option was to walk there, it still took the better part of an hour to do so.

Plenty of time to come up with a plan.

If I remember correctly, there were looters and scavengers scattered throughout the tomb. Taking out a group of them would be doable but with my options being limited to the force, I'd have to isolate a smaller group of them. They'd certainly have blasters on them and maybe even a sword or two if I got lucky enough. Still, a blaster was better than going into the tombs defenseless as there were also K'lor'slugs, tukata, shyrak, and God knows what else to deal with. I'd have to isolate a small group of them and take them out one by one.

Then there was the other matter to deal with.

Tremel had locked me in as the acolyte from the Sith Warrior storyline who would go on to become the apprentice to Darth Baras and eventually the emperor's wrath. I know that I had chosen this for my new life but what did I want to do with it? While it was nice knowing that I had a position of power lined up for me, there wasn't a whole lot to do with it. If I remembered correctly, all the job was after the main story was sitting around waiting for any major events to happen where the wrath would be needed.

Still, the climb to get there would not be an easy one. On top of the opponents that I would be expected to deal with, there would be betrayals from Quinn, Baras, and potentially anyone else I encountered who weren't apart of the standard crew from the game. Did I even want to recruit anyone outside of the standard crew? If so, how would I go about securing their loyalty?

Speaking of betrayals, how was I going to handle them? Knowing they were going to happen was warning enough and I could try and prevent them from happening or Quinn's at the very least. Even if I made myself expendable to Baras, he still wouldn't hesitate to leave me to die on Quesh. That means I have from now until then to build up my own network of allies and resources to counter his. Perhaps I could alert the imperial guard and tell them what Baras intends to do. They would be the most efficient way to get rid of him but there's no telling whether or not they would actually do it simply based on the word of one individual.

Or knowing if Baras already had them in his pocket.

Just trying to come up with all the possible angles for how to deal with all the twists and turns of what was to come was making my head spin. Thankfully I was approaching the entrance to the tomb and could shift my attention towards the task at hand. Still, as I walked into the tomb's entrance, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread overcome me.

The tombs were old. Even the ones reserved for Ajunta Pall and the other fallen Jedi who travelled with him could give the pyramids of Giza back on Earth a run for their money. Like the pyramids, the tombs were reserved for the most powerful Sith of their respective eras. Some even had the ghosts of those they were dedicated to lurking within but that wasn't what I was concerned about here as Revan had taken care of that issue centuries ago. What I was concerned about was that the entire world of Korriban was a dark side nexus and that the valley these tombs were located in might as well have been the source of turning Korriban into the hellhole it was today.

So, what would all that concentrated dark side energy do to someone like me? Someone hovering perilously on that tiny edge between light and dark and so desperate to make sure he lands on the right side of that divide. If the history of this universe was anything to go by, all it took was one bay day or one wrong choice for an unprepared force user to alter the fate of the galaxy.

Shaking my head clear of those incredibly depressing thoughts, I walked down the ramp and spotted a group of soldiers clustered to the right side of the tomb blasters at the ready. Each of them radiated nervousness in the Force and when one of them pointed me out towards the others, their nervousness seemed to amplify. This seemed to have gotten the attention of what I could only assume to be their commanding office as he turned around to give me a salute.

"Sergeant Cormun, my lord. Fifth infantry Korriban regiment. How can I be of assistance?" the question was asked in a polite tone, but I got the sense that he wouldn't hesitate to gun me down if I proved myself a threat. Still, it couldn't hurt to the ask the man for a few resources.

"I'm supposed to locate an old Sith armory in this tomb and retrieve an ancient war blade. You wouldn't happen to have a map or a spare blaster on you?"

"The map I can do" the sergeant said as he handed me the item in question and gave me directions on how to get there. It wasn't too far. A few turns, a few walks down ridiculously long passages all while trying not to become a K'lor'slugs's mid-morning snack and I was there. Just had to avoid getting eaten by giant slugs or shot by looters.

Which brought me to my next problem.

"And the blaster?"

Cormun frowned. "I'm afraid I can't do that my lord. Need all the fire power we can get to make sure nothing gets past this point and imperial regulations forbid handing weaponry to any unauthorized individuals. The tomb is packed with looters though. Should be plenty of ordinance for you to pick from."

"Do imperial regulations forbid you from handing them over if a Sith ordered you to do so?"

"No but according to the latest out of the academy, you're on thin ice over there. Giving you anything more than directions might just put me or whoever else tries to help you in front of a firing squad."

Damn.

Tremel wasn't pulling any punches. If I was to survive this ordeal, it would be up to me and me alone.

Cormun seemed to have noticed my disapproval "If there is anything else me or the boys could assist you with, here's a comm unit to contact me with". The sergeant handed be said device and I clipped it to my belt. An olive branch of sorts to try and lessen the bad news.

"Thanks for your help Sergeant". Cormun gave me a nod and another salute. He turned back towards his men and I began walking down the perilous path towards the armory.

-Line Break-

Sticking to the shadows along the walls of the tomb, I silently made my way towards the group of looters in front of me. I had been sensing their group sense before I had turned the corner that led me to this chamber and had been carefully avoiding their line of sight ever since.

There was only one room left before I could reach the armory, but it was packed to the brim with highly armed tomb raiders. Two guards stood at the entrance that I was approaching from with more groups of two at the two other entrances and a group of roughly twenty stood between them and my destination. Each of them were armed with either a sword or some type of rifle similar to the ones used by sergeant Cormun and his men.

Great. Twenty-eight total looters with military grade equipment to deal with and all I had at my disposal was the force. The majority of them were currently packing up artifacts to smuggle off-world but as soon as I took out the two guards here, they would waste no time in emptying their rifles into me and/or turning me into a shish kebab.

Using the force to snap their necks or some similar precise technique was a no go. These people were crazy enough to sneak onto and steal artifacts where the majority of the people who would come down here were force sensitive. Thinking that they wouldn't have something to counter the force was nothing short of suicidal and I didn't plan on dying any time soon. Sure, I could unleash a massive force wave on them similar to what Satele did to Malgus in the cinematic trailer but that would destroy all the artifacts that they were trying to steal. Returning those, while not a part of my original mission, certainly wouldn't hurt in trying to gain favor at the academy. I could run past them, using the force to enhance my speed to where they wouldn't even be able to see me but that still left a group of just under thirty highly armed mercs to fight on the way back.

With a quiet sigh, I leaned back as far as I could against the wall, desperately trying to think of a way out. Looking out the way I had just came, I thought about calling it quits when an idea suddenly came to mind.

It was so crazy that even Anakin Skywalker would have second thoughts, but it just might work.

Still sticking to the shadows, I moved away from the from the diamond shaped room and began working my way back. As I approached the corner that I had just turned moments ago, I broke out into a slight jog towards my target. Eventually, I came to a halt in front of a group of four very dead K'lor'slugs, two giant ones and two of the little ones. I had come across them a while ago and a few bursts of force lightning had quickly taken care of them. Now, I would be using their corpses to take out the looters.

The plan was to use the force to try and mimic how they acted while they were alive. Since I would be guiding them with the force, any damage they would take wouldn't have an effect on them. Reaching out with the force, I started to life one of the little ones to where the upper half and the claws had been raised up like it was about to attack. One by one I added the others. It wasn't completely lifelike but it assure me that this was possible.

The plan had promise, I just needed to do a little fine tuning.

-Line Break-

Three hours later and I finally got it.

The main problem was the dozens of claws, teeth, and other aspects of the four slugs and trying to turn these things into a bug version of Frankenstein. I could have just stopped at being able to manipulate all four of them with the force but for the first part of this to work, I would have to make it as lifelike as possible. All that was behind me now as I stepped back and began directing the bugs from behind. It was tough work, but the real test would come as I rounded the corner.

As the last K'lor'slug rounded the corner, I carefully stepped out to join them. As I guided them from the walls, they quietly advanced towards the looters. We were about thirty feet down the passage before the guards noticed us.

"Slugs approaching! Four of 'em!" one of them yelled.

"Unless you want to end up as their lunch, shut up and shoot the damn things!" another voice, I could only guess that it was the one in charge, yelled out from further back.

As the guards opened fire, I barely managed to avoid dropping the ruse and the bugs as I dodged blaster fire. Using the force, I directed the slugs to simply charge headfirst at the enemy. Any shots from the guards simply bounced off or tore through the corpses with no effect on their progress or speed. When they got close enough, I ordered the two little ones to attack a leg of each of the guards while the larger ones snapped them up.

I'll spare you the gory details, but just be glad Jurassic Park wasn't rated R.

With the guards now lunch for the dead, I dropped the two large slugs on top of each other to act as a makeshift cover. It didn't completely close of the entrance but it did provide more than enough room to where the only way they could reach me was by climbing over it. As I approached, I lifted the little ones with the force and threw them over the gap without a care where they would land. I couldn't help but giggle as I heard a couple shrill screams more suited for a toddler than a hardened merc echo throughout the tomb.

"They're just corpses!" the second voice from before called out again. "The Sith responsible for this madness is behind the bugs so get moving and earn your paychecks for once you useless sons of mynocks!"

The ruse had run its course, but they could still provide a momentary distraction while I initiated phase two of my psychotic plan.

The entrance guards had been kind enough to not get blood and guts all over their blasters. I was going to go for them until the force altered me of a threat from above. Glancing up revealed three armed individuals climbing over the makeshift fence. I force pushed them into the roof of the tomb and as they started to fall, I pushed them back towards their comrades. I could sense that they weren't dead, but they were going to walk away with quite a few nasty head injuries.

"If you don't want something worse to happen to you, I'd suggest you start running like hell!" I yelled out, completing the image of a psychotic Sith-in-training with a high-pitched giggle. I'll give them this one chance to escape with their lives, it'll be up to them if they decide to take it. Using the force, I lifted the top slug just enough to take a peek at my opponents.

"Screw this, I don't get paid enough to deal with crazy Sith!" one of the mercs said as he dropped his rifle and ran with a handful of others following suit. The fifteen who remained seemed to notice me peeking at them but before they could open fire, I used my free hand and pulled their rifles and blades towards me with the force.

Swords imbedded themselves between the two raised K'lor'slugs to act as a support as I would need both hands for this next stunt. As I climbed through the gap, more guns than I could count seemed to suspend themselves in the air next to me as the looters watched on fear, a fear that would quickly amplify as they began to ran as I used the force to pull every trigger simultaneously and they were peppered with blaster fire.

I couldn't help but take a deep breath in through my nose and drink in their fear.

It was glorious!

Their fear grew and grew as more of them were injured and killed by the oncoming storm of blaster fire. Their fear, their desperation, my need to experience more of it, all of it and much more merged into a single power trip so high and so exhilarating that no sane individual would ever want to –

NO!

A few blasters dropped to the ground at that single word loudly echoed throughout my head.

I will not surrender myself to the darkness! It is something to be used as a tool. It will never consume me!

Regaining control of myself, I dropped the majority of the blasters leaving enough to where I could take precise shots at the fleeing looters rather than mindlessly killing them. Ten minutes later, those that weren't already dead were now writhing on the floor, clutching legs or arms that had been hit with their own blasters. Satisfied that they weren't going to be heading anywhere anytime soon, I took the comm unit off my belt and called Sergeant Cormun.

"Sergeant"

"Here, my lord. What is it you need?"

"There are a group of tomb raiders just outside the armory I told you about. They've been… incapacitated and secured along with the artifacts that they were hoping to steal. Make sure that the artifacts get back to an overseer named Tremel at the academy. He'll know who sent them."

Without waiting for Cormun's acknowledgement, I shut off the device and walked towards the armory, tiptoeing over both the bodies of both the dead and living. Thankfully the laser rounds were hot enough to cauterize the wounds and not leave too much blood behind, otherwise I'd be in a much worse state. This massacre, there was no other way to describe it, had happened due to my inability to reign in my control over the dark side of the force. If I didn't want to fully lose myself to it, I'd have to take some more precautions. Not to the point of the Jedi where they completely abstained from the dark side, but I'd have to develop some sort of system or routine to try and find some sort of balance between the dark and the light.

The ancient Je'daii had managed to do it for centuries before the force wars split them in half. Maybe I could to.

Before stepping into the armory, I looked over the bodies for anything that I could use. I had already taken one of their pistols and hidden in the back of my red and grey academy uniform, but I doubt it would be enough. I had wanted one of the rifles but there wasn't exactly an easy way to sneak it in. Going through the corpses, while a rather disturbing process, ended up proving useful as I found that some of them had multiple canisters on their belts. Curious, I opened one of and saw half a dozen grenades. They probably didn't use these during our very one-sided battle so they wouldn't bring down the cave on top of them. Still, something like this could be useful in the right environment or against a big enough target so I grabbed a couple of the canisters and attached them to my belt.

Stepping into the armory revealed a room absolutely filled to the brim with weapons. Every single wall in this room was filled to the brin with the ancient blades Tremel wanted me to retrieve. While the majority of the blades were the single sword that was depicted in the game, there were a handful of staffs roughly six feet in length with an extension on both ends similar to the end of the disruptor rifle used by Din Djarin in season one of the Mandalorian.

Twirling the new weapon in my hands and going through a few of Juyo's sequences, I was satisfied that while it was indeed old, it wouldn't break apart from excessive use. With a nod, I strapped the staff on my back and headed out the door. As I did, I saw the familiar face of Sergeant Cormun and a handful of his men were cuffing the remaining lotters and dragging them off.

I didn't stop to chat with Cormun and simply gave him a nod of approval before I started the long journey back to Tremel's office with my new weapon in hand.